Dreams Unlocked

Well here ya go. Again, as a pastor, husband and father of 3 kids, it's getting tougher and tougher to see as many movies as I like. But, these are the 10 best as I saw them: 1. Toy Story 3 - Pixar strikes gold once again. Last year my fave movie was Up. Some friends were surprised I put TS3 at #1. Maybe I am getting more sentimental in my old age, but this film is just so great. I almost teared up at one point as the toys grasp onto one another as they face what looks like certain doom. 2. Carlos - A leftover gem from the Vancouver Film Festival. This was originally a tv series - and you can tell why, as it clocks in at 5.5 hours! The VIFF, screened the entire film, with a 15 minute intermission to make it tolerable. It was edited down to 2 hours and 20 minutes, which is the version I saw. Traces the ascent of the most formidable terrorist of the 20th century - Carlos the Jackal. Spy thrillers are probably my fave genre of film - and this is one of the best I have ever seen. So m...

Tonight, I (along with 40(!) other people) spoke at a Public Hearing concerning a proposed permanent shelter to be built in the city of Coquitlam. The place was packed with tons of overflow seating. I got there an hour early and nabbed a front row seat with several other supporters. I was on the official speakers list and spoke a little after 8 PM - the hearing started at 7, so there were several other speakers ahead of me. Most were people representing homeless agencies supporting the initiative. There were a few nearby residents who expressed thier anger that this thing was going to be built so close to their homes - fear and insecurity rang out from these voices. This is the complete text of my message: Message to City Council Mr. Mayor, Council members and fellow citizens, thank you for this opportunity to speak tonight. I come here tonight as a resident of the tri-city community and the chair of the tri-city ministerial – an umbrella group made up of a variety of different ...

I preached this morning on "the church". Pretty broad, I know - I used 4 images found in scripture to describe the church: 1. People of God 2. Family of God 3. Living Stones 4. Holy Priesthood. After preaching, I was exhausted - I mean I usually am a bit tired after a sermon - but this was something else. I could barely stand - and in fact sought out the help of a nearby chair. Preaching is an activity that is taxing mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. I find there are not many activities like it. It is mentally grueling, not necessarily during the act of preaching itself, but more in the preparation of it. I love writing and delivering sermon, but that doesn't mean that it is easy. In fact, most times I struggle to complete a sermon that I think will achieve its purpose. The emotional toll comes about through the use of personal illustrations or the sheer passion that sometimes emerges when making a particularly salient point. I'm not a very demonstrat...

Eugene Peterson in Colorado saying something good. It's an overcast afternoon in Port Moody. I'm in my home office drinking Tazo Awake black tea. My office has sliding glass doors that open up to our small back patio. I usually have squirrels and cats roaming around back there - but no visitors today. just me, my tea and some Van Morrison to keep me company. I have had 2 separate invitations from editors inviting me to submit articles to their respective publications in the last 2 months, which I am taking as some kind of sign to start writing again. I used to write quite regularly for Relevant magazine from 2001-2005. And then for some reason, I just stopped. Even this blog - I used to write a ton., but have not written in quite some time. With the increase of demands from church and other areas, I simply found it was too much to keep the blog updated and to dream up interesting magazine articles. But, here I am back at it. I also even have a book idea I've been toying wit...

Pastor Terry Jones pastors a church of 50 people in Gainesville Florida. It is unlikely many people would have ever heard of this guy who sells furniture on e-bay to make a few extra bucks. But Jones' anonymity changed forever when he announced his churches' intention to burn 200 korans on September 11 of this year. The announcement was met with the expected outrage from Muslims. But, now the outrage has spread to virtually every sentient human being on the planet. General Petraeus, Hillary Clinton and even Angelina Jolie have expressed their concern and disagreement with this guy. Petraeus' and other military leaders' concerns have been the most serious as they are saying that the burnings will ignite actions against US troops. Jones' church is ironically called "Dove Outreach Center". The dove is normally a symbol of peace, yet it is the home of this loony tune. I have no clue what Jones' is hoping to achieve by this stunt - he has certainly garnered...

The hermitage I stayed in. I have said before that the mentors to my generation of Christian leaders would include the following: Richard Foster, Leslie Newbign, Dallas Willard, Eugene Peterson, Mirozlov Volf and Henri Nouwen. The writing of these men have been hugely formative in my spiritual life and in the life of my ministry. I just finished WIllard's book "The Great Omission". It is a collection of past essays he has written on the lack of discipleship in contemporary Christianity. It is a great book. He makes several references to the necessity for solitude and silence in the life of Christian, and in the life of leaders. Since, I fall into both categories - Christian and leader, I paid attention. And I tried it out. Last Friday, I checked into a hermitage at a local Catholic retreat center. A hermitage is a small living space set aside for monastics who have chosen to live a life of solitude from the rest of society. Other terms include Poustina or Ashram. The herm...

This is an extension of a tweet I posted earlier today. This is the original tweet: Most "busyness" in today's world is based on pride, low self-esteem, fear and lack of faith. Most of it rarely produces anything of value. This is a paraphrase and summary of some things I had been reading by Dallas Willard. It is also something I have been noticing been played out in my community. We lived in downtown Vancouver for 7 years. The downtown of any major city tends to be busy and move fast. People's inner worlds tended to synchronize with this external reality. We now live in the suburbs of Vancouver. We live on the edge of a forest. My old home office was on the 26th floor and overlooked the helter skelter movements of downtown Vancouver. My current office is in our town-home basement and I have a view of the forest - the only action I see is the occasional glare from the neighborhood cat. Where we now live is quite peaceful, quiet and serene. But, strangely the lives of...

On Friday July 30, I will turn 40 years old. Yesterday, Felicia, my parents, sister and whole church surprised me with a birthday cake and catered lunch following the Sunday morning service. It was a special day already, because we dedicated our son James. My father actually performed the dedication for us. I was quite surprised by the party, which was actually completely planned by Felicia. I really can't believe I didn't find out - as it took a month of planning. Anyways, it was quite stunning. I got enough Starbucks cards to keep me caffeinated for quite some time. I also got over 20 birthday cards, which surely must be a record for me. I am so grateful to Felicia for all the work she did in planning this thing! I can remember when my dad turned 40. Another man in the church also turned 40 around the same time, so they had a combined party and were given a lot of joke gifts high-lighting the fact that they were getting older. Now, I'm the one getting older. It feels odd,...

Hanging out w. Adam and Soph. James at the start of his first vacation, ever. We are at the Beach Club Resort in Parksville, on Vancouver Island. A brief holiday before I leave for an intense week of training with Living Waters Canada. We take a vacation once (sometimes twice) a year. In the summer we usually stay somewhere local - usually BC, Washington or Oregon. And we almost always head for somewhere that has a beach - mainly for Adam's benefit. He has the most fun around a beach - any beach. This might be due to his being born and bred on the west coast, or it might be the seminal trip to Hawaii we took last year. I find the role of vacations to be extremely healthy and therapeutic. There is something about physically traveling away from and being away from where you normally conduct life and business. Since my office is in my home, a holiday at home is very challenging, since, as soon as I walk into the basement I feel like I am at work. In my line of work, fatigue and stress...

Firefighter Steve O'Brien holding James. Much less stressful, than the first time! This past year, I have had the privilege of leading the Tri-City Ministerial. This is an organization that represents all the churches in the cities of Port Moody, Port Coquitlam and Coquitlam. We meet once a month for lunch to chat about ongoing ministry events and pray together. It is really a great bunch of men and women. The biggest event that we do all year is the Tri-City Mayors' Prayer Breakfast - this is an event where we honor our elected officials at the local, provincial and federal levels. As the head of the ministerial, I did quite a bit of work - its not really hard work, just a LOT of work. We had it this morning at a local golf and country club. And, in my humble, unbiased event - it was a smashing success!!! Things just went really really well today. The venue was beautiful - the food was great. We had a guest speaker, Dr. Dave Currie, whom I have known for over 25 years. He was ...

In the book "The Prodigal God, Tim Keller writes that, "Elder brothers obey God to get things." As I reflected on that, I began to wonder how many of us operate out of the paradigm of karma instead of grace. Karma is a theory of divine equitable justice - you get what you deserve. Grace is a reality that God's love is so comprehensive that not only do we not get what we deserve - but in fact we get what we don't deserve. Because of our natural inclination towards living for ourselves and fulfilling our needs over others, God is justified in removing us from His presence. Instead, through grace, God extends love, forgiveness and acceptance to anyone and everyone who even makes the smallest step towards Him. Grace is stronger than karma. You might have been a Christian all your life, but might still believe that your good actions should result in God's blessings on you. This is a faulty paradigm and it sets you up for disappointment and cynicism when things do...

Well, what have we here - a blog post - wow!!! Things are really picking up for old Dreams Unlocked. I remember when I first started blogging - I was obsessed with being listed on as many fellow bloggers, "blog-rolls" as possible. Now - I barely check anyone else's. I guess I don't get as much ego boost from internet connectivity as I used to. Saw the movie Blindside tonight. It's a movie of a wealthy white Christian family who adopt a poor homeless black boy - he goes on to play in the NFL. This movie has been raved about by many Christians - and some prominent Christian leaders. Sandra Bullock won the Oscar for her performance in this film. (Sadly her own blindside would come soon after winning the award, as reports of her husband's serial infidelity began to circulate). The movie had a nice story, that I am sure will touch you. But, as an actual film, I found it quite weak - there are no break-out performances - even Bullock's didn't really blow me ...

This is the full text of the article I wrote that appeared in our local paper. Enjoy. Unexpected Delivery On January 11, 2010, our 2 children were in bed, and I was waiting for my wife, Felicia to come downstairs so we could watch the movie I had rented. After waiting a few minutes I ambled up to our bedroom. It was dark and Felicia was doubled over in pain by the bed. The day before, Felicia had complained of some contractions. Apparently, they passed (I never knew they could just like …. leave). So, she is doubled over, groaning and moans that we have to go to the hospital. Now, I start a sort of manic running around and packing frenzy. We called a friend who was our back up to look after our kids if anything should happen. (Interestingly, we had only asked her the day before!) We have managed to get Felicia to the door of our house and we waited for our friend Lorna to arrive. As we’re waiting, I heard 2 noises at the same time – a splash and a loud gasp from Felicia. ...

Oscar Picks - I'll give it my best shot. We'll see how I do in March. Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique i n Precious. Unbelievable - there is one scene near the end that basically clinches the win for her. Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz - Inglorious Basterds. Only because he's won just about every other award for this role so far. Actress - Tough one. I would have to say either Carey Mulligan in "An Education", who shot into prominence out of nowhere. Same for Gabourey Sidibe in Precious - unbelievable performance. But, Sandra Bullock has been getting a lot of attention for "Blind-Side". My pick would be Sidibe. Actor - I haven't seen it, but I hear Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart" is excellent - so I would go with him. Director - Kathryn Bigelow - Hurt Locker. James Cameron's ex wife just might beat him out - this was an amazing film. Picture - With 10 nominees, this is tough. I think the best movies in this category are Avatar,...

James Ninan - minutes old, born in the entryway of our townhouse - he is wrapped up in one of our hand towels. Felicia is leaning against the wall in our entryway - you can see the paramedics bag in the background. I have blogged November 21, December 21 and now January 21. James Abraham Paul Ninan made quite the entrance into the world. Here's the full story: On Sunday January 10 2010, Felicia was having contractions at church. She monitored them and ignored my insistence that we go to the hospital. The next day the contractions got worse, to the point that she was doubled over next to our bed. (This is now Monday night at about 9:00). At this point, she told me we should go to the hospital. I phoned our friend Lorna, who Felicia had asked just the day day before if she would be willing to come over if anything should happen. Lorna said she'd be right over. I ran around collecting stuff, like most crazed husbands do at times like that. We were at the door of our house, waiting...